I almost didn’t take this photo of another church named Notre Dame (French for “Our Lady”). But its history is fascinating. It began as a chapel for crossbowmen in 1348 when Beatrice Soetkens, the wife of a poor cloth worker, had a vision from the Virgin Mary to row a boat to Antwerp and retrieve the Our Lady of the Branch statute from a cathedral. When a priest tried to stop her, he became motionless. The miracle gave birth to the Ommegang which is an annual pageant in Brussels. This Gothic church, called Church of Our Lady Sablon, was built in the 15th and 16th century. In the foreground is the lovely Place du Petit Sablon. Throughout its beautiful flower gardens are 48 columns with a bronze statue on top. Each one represents a profession or trade from the Middle Ages.
